Dorothea Beale: Principal of the Cheltenham Ladies' College, 1858-1906Shillito, Elizabeth Helen
History
Dorothea Beale: Principal of the Cheltenham Ladies' College, 1858-1906
Shillito, Elizabeth Helen
Beale, Dorothea, 1831-1906; Cheltenham Ladies' College
“She had a wonderful memory,” writes one of her former pupils, “for
her Old Girls, especially for those who, like me, belonged to the old
days of Cambray House, and could remember the excitement and delight
of going into the new building. I shall never forget the warmth of her
greeting at that last Guild or how at the ‘At Home’ in the evening she
stopped me in the corridor to say, ‘I was told that all five C----’s
were here, and I have only seen four. Where is M----?’ I believe that
there were about 1200 Old Girls there, and to think of her keeping
count like that of those whom she had seen was simply amazing.”
Pupils of a later date, who thought Dorothea Beale had hardly known
them at College, were often astonished to find that their old Principal
not only knew them, but remembered incidents of their College days, or
events which happened afterwards.
An older girl and her sister were both sent to College and the latter
left from the third division because her people left Cheltenham; but
her elder sister, Gertrude, stayed on and eventually joined the Guild.
Years after the younger one met the Principal and went up to speak to
her and, never thinking that she could possibly remember her, meant to
explain who she was. But before she could do so Miss Beale, on seeing
her, began without any preliminaries: “Why has your sister left the
Guild?”
In the year 1876 Miss Margaret Newman had made an offer to Dorothea
Beale that she would start a boarding-house for students who wished
to become teachers and found it difficult to obtain the necessary
training. She offered to pay £75 a year towards expenses, and in
addition to give her time and services. This involved a good deal of
strain and work, as it meant living in a small house with only one
maid, and having in addition the responsibility of the girl students.
At the end of one year Miss Newman became ill and died after a short
illness. Those who knew her felt that death had been hastened by the
devoted work for which she had hardly had sufficient strength. Her
work, however, was not ended. In the brief space of one year Miss
Newman had won such love and affection for herself and such sympathy
with her noble object that people felt her work must go on. It was this
strong feeling which made Dorothea Beale depart from her usual plan
of not asking for money. As soon as she asked, £1200 was immediately
given, half of it by the College staff.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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